BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Hundreds of businesses across Bowling Green were unrecognizable last year after the EF3 tornado ripped through the city. That’s when the community rallied, picking up the pieces to begin the rebuilding process.
Chris Karraker was one of those people who experienced firsthand how the community came together.
Karraker always knew he’d be working behind the bar someday, and that passion inspired him to open up his own business in 2015.
“Well, I love cooking. People don’t realize when you know all the alcohol and all the stuff that you add into it tastes like, it’s just like cooking,” Karraker said.
Karraker is the owner of Blue Holler Brew Supplies on 31 W Bypass. It’s a business that is well known to the Bowling Green community, but in Dec. 2021 that business was unrecognizable.
“This section of the roof was peeled up and thrown over there. It was just that wall and that wall and then everything was sitting in a pile,” Karraker said. “I had signs from other companies sitting in the taproom.”
The EF3 tornado’s 150 mph winds had ripped the roof and walls off the Bowling Green brewery.
Karraker wasn’t the only one dealing with loss. The entire 31 W Bypass had been leveled.
“The bypass, the most iconic street in the City of Bowling Green, along with Russellville Road and Nashville Road. I mean it literally ripped right through our community and went all the way over to the Corvette plant,” Bowling Green Mayor Todd Alcott said.
That’s when the community stepped up.
“There was one of my customers that works at Home Depot. He was like ‘Hey man tell me the Holler made it?’” Karraker said. “I was like no. That’s what we’re doing now, getting stuff to start clean and he told me he paid for everything out of his pocket. Before I got to the Holler, I had a family who called me and said, '‘Hey man, where are you? We’re here in your parking lot waiting to help you get cleaned up.”
It’s the same community who made Blue Holler what it is today.
“I came here every day for three months after that. I got emotional every day. I built this place,” Karraker said. “I physically built everything that was in here and the community built the rest of it.”
In the meantime, Karraker is still serving up drinks at his other bar, The Office at 912. He’s anxiously waiting for the day Blue Holler Brew Supplies opens up their doors once again.
“I hope it turns back into what it was,” Karraker said. “I mean, like I said, if you knew nobody in Bowling Green and somebody told you to go to the Holler, you knew everyone in this place before you left.”
Blue Holler Brew Supplies hopes to be back open and running come Jan. 2023.